Random Reviews:

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Today I'm super excited for this post, I have a fantastic author here to share her six most influential author with you and a great giveaway as well. I want to thank author Sophie Cleverly for sharring this post with us and for letting me be part of this tour. So let's get to it.

Ivy, I pray that it’s you reading this. And if you are, well, I suppose you’re the new me…

When
shy Ivy’s troublemaking twin Scarlet vanishes from Rookwood boarding
school, Ivy is invited to “take her place.” But when Ivy arrives,
she discovers the school’s true intention; she has to pretend to be
Scarlet. She must think like Scarlet, act like Scarlet, become Scarlet.
What on earth happened to the real Scarlet, and why is the school
trying to keep it a secret?

Luckily
for Ivy, Scarlet isn’t about to disappear without a fight. She’s left
pieces of her journal carefully hidden all over the school
for Ivy to find. Ivy’s going to figure out what happened to Scarlet.
She’s got to.

But the staff of Rookwood is always watching, and they’ll do anything to keep their secrets buried…

What are 6 most influential YA and/or children’s books
that you have read. Why?

This list might
surprise my readers, as they’re quite different to my own stories, but for me
the most influential books are ones that have driven me to create something
that makes me feel the way these amazing books have.

1.The
Graveyard Book by Neil
Gaiman

I love to read this book – in fact I’m
re-reading it right now, and it’s like reuniting with an old friend. I’d always
been fascinated by graveyards since I was a child, and the moment I discovered
this I knew it was the book I’d always dreamt of. A stunningly beautiful, vivid
and (quite literally) haunting story of a young boy raised by ghosts – this to
me is the epitome of perfect writing.

2.A
Hat Full of Sky by Terry
Pratchett

All of Terry
Pratchett’s books have been hugely influential to me, but his Tiffany Aching
mini-series stand out as the ones that have touched my heart the most. They
tell the story of a girl who becomes a witch, but she soon learns it is a heavy
responsibility. A Hat Full of Sky is
my favorite in the series – it manages to combine being life-affirming,
tear-jerking and completely hilarious.

3.Northern
Lights by Philip Pullman

I can remember
reading this book many years ago and just thinking “this is amazing – I want to
be able to write like this!” Pullman has a really wonderful way with words. I
love how he managed to create a fun fantasy adventure that also questions
everything about life and the universe. The world of Lyra’s Oxford is so
wonderfully realized.

4.Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The stand-out
message for me from Gaiman’s tale of a girl that discovers a nightmarish
“other” version of the house she lives in is that bravery isn’t being unafraid
– it’s being terrified but not giving up. This is something that really
resonated with me, and that I wanted to show in my books as well. I love that
this book is so dark and scary but you never feel unsafe while reading it, and
I think that’s how the best children’s books should be.

5.Artemis
Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer’s writing is another masterclass
in how to combine moving and funny. This series of books is about a 12-year-old
criminal mastermind who kidnaps a kick-ass fairy named Holly Short, eventually
befriending her and having a series of adventures. I loved that every book in
this series was as good as the last.

6.Moondial by Helen Cresswell

This was my favorite
book as a kid, and one that has always stayed with me. It’s a timeslip novel
about a girl who finds a sundial outside an old manor that transforms into a
mystical “moondial” and shows her ghosts of the past. The atmosphere was just
so perfectly spooky, and that’s something that I’ve tried to capture in my own
books

Sophie Cleverlybegan writing Scarlet and Ivy in her second year at university,
where she studied Creative Writing. She knew she had to finish telling
the story, and when she heard that the university offered an MA in
Writing For Young People she realized it was the perfect
opportunity. She lives in Wiltshire, England. This is her debut. Visit
hapfairy.co.uk.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this great guest post as much as I did. I really enjoy getting to see who influences the authors themselves. Thanks again author Sophie Cleverly for being a guest on the blog today!